Short-range mobile wireless devices frequently come within communicating range of stationary wireless devices, known as access points, which are connected to wireline local area networks (LANs) or wide area networks (WANs). The mobile wireless device can form a wireless link with a nearby access point to enable communication with network servers. The network servers can provide services to the mobile wireless devices, which can be customized to the particular access point currently nearest to and communicating with the mobile device. One example is a map display service where regional maps are stored in a network server and local maps characteristic of the neighborhood around an access point, can be downloaded to mobile devices near that access point. This requires that customized messages that are unique to a particular access point, be sent to the network server. As a mobile wireless device moves from one access point to another, the customized messages received by the network server must change to reflect the network identity of the new access point. What is needed in the prior art is a method of facilitating the preparation of customized messaging between an access point and a variety of service platforms.
Short-range wireless networks include both wireless personal area networks (“PANs”) and wireless local area network (“WLANs”). Both of these networks have the common feature of operating in unlicensed portions of the radio spectrum, usually either in the 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band or the 5 GHz Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure (“U-NII”) band. Wireless personal area networks use low cost, low power wireless devices that have a typical range of ten meters.
The best-known example of wireless personal area network technology is the Bluetooth Standard, which operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Bluetooth is a short-range radio network, originally intended as a cable replacement. It can be used to create ad hoc networks of up to eight devices operating together. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Specification Of The Bluetooth System, Volumes 1 and 2, Core and Profiles: Version 1.1, 22 Feb., 2001, describes the principles of Bluetooth device operation and communication protocols. Bluetooth devices are designed to find other Bluetooth devices within their ten meter radio communications range and to discover what services they offer, using a service discovery protocol (SDP).
Examples of wireless local area network technology include the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard and the HIPERLAN Standard, which operate in the 5 GHz U-NII band. The IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard is published in three parts as IEEE 802.11-1999; IEEE 802.11a-1999; and IEEE 802.11b-1999, which are available from the IEEE, Inc. web site http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11. An overview of the HIPERLAN Type 2 principles of operation is provided in the Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN), HIPERLAN Type 2; System Overview, ETSI TR 101 683 VI.I.1 (2000-02).
What is needed is a way to facilitate the preparation of customized messaging between a short-range wireless access point and a variety of service platforms to provide the content for those messages.